a 
IMPORTANT WESTERN BROWSE PLANTS 169 
Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico. This is no doubt due in large 
measure to the fact that in the north the species occurs mostly on 
summer or early fall range, while the palatability and usefulness 
is much greater in the late fall, winter, and very early spring. The 
enormous root system of this shrub enables it to derive water and 
mineral solutes from a deep and remarkably extensive subterranean 
area; the species is a fairly rapid grower and practically proof 
against serious injury from heavy grazing except in winter. The 
herbage has the peculiar bitter-aromatic quality characteristic of 
so many species of the genus and is reputed to have tonic proper- 
ties for livestock. 
Big sagebrush has long been valued as an indicator of potential 
agricultural land, and a vigorous growth of this shrub is of great 
significance in connection with reclamation projects (119, 102, p. 
40-43). Clements (20) states that big sagebrush is the climax plant 
formation of the Great Basin. 
Schneider (18) states that this species is “ said, to be poisonous,” 
adding that the plant “very likely has diaphoretic and diuretic 
properties” (144). Coville (27, p. 105) reports that a decoc- 
tion of the leaves is valuable medicinally to check diarrhea and 
externally as an eyewash, and calls attention to the fact that the 
best twirling sticks for fire making amongst the western Indians 
were made of the wood of this species. Big sagebrush is an im- 
portant fuel in the region it occupies, igniting readily from the 
loose stringy bark. This shrub is the State flower of Nevada. 
Small sagebrush (A. nova, syn. A. tridentata nova), otherwise 
known as dwarf sage(brush), is a little bush 3 to 12 inches high 
closely related to big sagebrush (A. tridentata). It occurs on level 
plains and on all slopes in the foothills and mountains, mostly in 
sandy or gravelly loams, and ranges from southern and western 
Montana to northern New Mexico and Arizona, eastern Nevada, and 
Idaho, but is perhaps more abundant southward. It occurs from 
the woodland to the yellow pine types, but is occasionally found in 
the aspen and spruce belts as well. In parts of Utah, southwestern 
Colorado, and northern New Mexico, between about 6,000 and 9,000 
feet, this species is often one of the most common and abundant 
undershrubs and is usually held in high repute for both sheep and 
goats on fall and winter range. | 
Silver sagebrush (A. cana), known also as gray, hoary, silvery, 
and white sage(brush), is widely distributed from southern Alberta 
and Saskatchewan to western Nebraska, northern New Mexico, 
California (east of the Sierra Nevada), and eastern Oregon. It is 
a grayish-hued, linear-leaved shrub 1 to 10 feet high, and has one 
of the highest altitudinal ranges in the genus, from 2,500 to 11,500 
feet, from sagebrush plains to the Engelmann spruce type. It oc- 
curs on all slopes, usually in rather dry sandy or gravelly loams, 
but is also found on clays and sometimes in moist situations. It 
usually inhabits grass, park weed, scattered browse, and other open 
types, and is frequently associated with other species of sagebrush, 
with yarrow and rabbit brush, and such grasses as blue grama, buf- 
falo grass, June grass, the needle grasses, and the wheatgrasses. 
Silver sagebrush is abundant on many areas and, while it 1s usually 
